370 DISEASES OF BREATHING. 



which suffers from chronic bronchitis is always more or less 

 '' short-winded." 



TREATMENT. — Give green food, and bran and linseed mashes. 

 Carrots are beneficial in all chronic cases of the organs connected 

 with breathing, and have a marked influence upon chronic cough 

 and broken wind. Blister the throat with biniodide of mercury, 

 and if the camphor and belladonna electuary (p. 368) does not 

 give relief, try a course of iodide of potassium as recommended for 

 sore throat (p. 367). Arsenic is useful amongst horses in reliev- 

 ing chronic irritable cough, especially when remaining after 

 attacks of influenza and sore throat. In such cases, with an ounce 

 of Fowler's solution (liquor arsenicalis) is advantageously united an 

 ounce of potassium chlorate, and a drachm of belladonna extract, 

 made into a draught .with water or gruel. 



As an " all-round " cough mixture, give three or four times a day 

 the following drench : — 



Chlorodyne ... 2 drachms. 



Dilute hydrocyanic acid 



J. 



2 



Water ... ... "... ... ... |^ pint. 



LEGAL ASPECT OF COUGHt— As a "cough" invariably 

 diminishes the natural usefulness of a horse at the time, it must 

 in all cases be regarded as . an unsoundness (Coates v. Stephens, 

 Moody and Robinson's Reports, vol. 2, p. 158). It is also liable to 

 be followed by permanent impairment of the animal's "wind." A 

 cough is not a disease in itself, but is a symptom of the existence 

 of some irritation to the air-passages, or to the nerves which supply 

 them. If the irritation is of such a temporary character, as to be 

 entirely removed then and there by the act of coughing, as for in- 

 stance, in the case of a particle of dust going " the wrong way," 

 this act of coughing should be regarded as the performance of a 

 natural function, and not as an unsoundness. But if the irritation 

 remains to an extent sufficient to cause the animal to cough more 

 or less continuously, such a horse would be unsound ; the per- 

 sistence of the irritation being the cause of the unsoundness. 

 Although the irritation, as in teething, may be a symptom of a 

 healthy and natural process, it is not the less, on that account, 

 detrimental to the animal's usefulness. 



Bleeding from the Nose. 



The only form of bleeding from the nose which I shall here con- 

 sider is that which occurs suddenly during work in the otherwise 

 healthy horse. It is generally induced by the severe exertion of 



